Debeaking Chickens
By Karen Davis - 10 Jul 2007

Dear Heather,

Regarding your question
about debeaking your chickens, please do not even consider doing that to
your birds. Debeaking is a painful mutilation of a body organ that is filled
to the tip with extremely sensitive nerve endings that affect not only the
beak but also the innervated face of the bird from the time s/he is an
embryo. Chickens need intact beaks to preen and eat properly. For
information, please visit:

If your chickens are
picking on each other, there may be a problem in how they are being kept. Do
they have access to a yard with plenty of green forage and soil to scratch
in? Chickens are foragers. The need space and things within that space to
satisfy their interests and needs. For more information, please visit
www.upc-online.org/chickens/.

I also urge you to have a
good veterinarian. A wound can become infected, leading to blood poisoning
and death, without proper treatment. You should at the very least clean out
the wound you describe, and apply an antibacterial agent such as Betadine,
Nolvesan, and/or Neosporin - until the wound heals. Also, you should worm
your chickens with Ivermectin. Please see our Chicken Care section at the
above link.

I hope things work out for
you and your birds, but please do not debeak. Chickens evolved in nature to
live in successfully in social groups and chickens with proper nutrition and
environment rarely pick at each other.

Chickens with a nutritional
deficiency they can't satisfy by foraging may be driven to pick on each
other, and chickens who are kept in a place that is dirty, with piled up
droppings, mites, lice etc. will pick at each other and display aberrant
behavior reflecting the poor environment. Boredom can lead to their picking
at each other.

This is not to suggest that
your chicken environment is at fault but to clarify the importance of
cleanliness, space, and appropriate environmental stimuli in maintaining
good social behavior in the flock. In addition to feedgrains, chickens
should receive fresh greens such as kale, heads of green leaf lettuce, whole
green cabbages & tomatoes for good nutrition and to help occupy their time.
They also like melons, tofu, & cooked spaghetti with sauce as occasional
treats.